David Francis Taylor: An attack on the royal carriage by angry protesters. Sound familiar?
[David Francis Taylor is a lecturer in eighteenth-century literature at the university of Toronto. His book on the theatre and politics in Georgian London will be published next year.]
Tensions in central London are high. Blundering its way through the streets, seemingly oblivious to the demonstrations, the royal vehicle is soon surrounded. It struggles to push its way through the wall of angry protesters. There is a great deal of shouting. Republican sentiments are expressed. Objects are hurled and one of the vehicle's windows is shattered.
The scene I am describing may sound familiar but it is yesteryear's news rather than yesterday's. In fact, it was 215 years ago. The vehicle was not a Rolls-Royce but a horse-drawn carriage and it was carrying not Prince Charles but King George III.
In October 1795 the king's coach was mobbed as it made its way to the state opening of parliament. Britain had been at war with revolutionary France since 1793 and the conflict's unpopularity grew as it placed the nation under increasing economic strain. The summer had witnessed food shortages in many parts of the country. The protesters called for "peace" and for "bread". Some went further; their cry was "Down with George! No King!" Stones were thrown at the carriage. One of them shattered a window near where the king was seated.
The protesters viewed the king's body as a symbol of the state with which they were deeply disenchanted. They viewed the gilt carriage that sheltered that body from the grim realities of the city streets as the sign of a government that was deaf to the people's suffering. As the scenes of Thursday last week vividly demonstrated, two centuries of politics, of the rise of liberal democracy and the decline of monarchical power, have done little to alter the power of this symbolism...
Read entire article at Guardian (UK)
Tensions in central London are high. Blundering its way through the streets, seemingly oblivious to the demonstrations, the royal vehicle is soon surrounded. It struggles to push its way through the wall of angry protesters. There is a great deal of shouting. Republican sentiments are expressed. Objects are hurled and one of the vehicle's windows is shattered.
The scene I am describing may sound familiar but it is yesteryear's news rather than yesterday's. In fact, it was 215 years ago. The vehicle was not a Rolls-Royce but a horse-drawn carriage and it was carrying not Prince Charles but King George III.
In October 1795 the king's coach was mobbed as it made its way to the state opening of parliament. Britain had been at war with revolutionary France since 1793 and the conflict's unpopularity grew as it placed the nation under increasing economic strain. The summer had witnessed food shortages in many parts of the country. The protesters called for "peace" and for "bread". Some went further; their cry was "Down with George! No King!" Stones were thrown at the carriage. One of them shattered a window near where the king was seated.
The protesters viewed the king's body as a symbol of the state with which they were deeply disenchanted. They viewed the gilt carriage that sheltered that body from the grim realities of the city streets as the sign of a government that was deaf to the people's suffering. As the scenes of Thursday last week vividly demonstrated, two centuries of politics, of the rise of liberal democracy and the decline of monarchical power, have done little to alter the power of this symbolism...